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Hummingbird Garden

bee visiting my feeder help!!!

18 years ago

Hi All! :)

It's bee season again! Now, don't me wrong. I LOVE bees. They help pollenate our gardens........but.........NOT on the hummingbird feeder!!!!!!! How can I discourage this little guy from visiting???? :) I have a mini humzinger. A little girl hummingbird just stopped for a drink and the bee was there. Sometimes it bothers her and sometimes it doesn't! Thank you everyone! :)

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Comments (7)

sarahbn
18 years ago
They have those wasp traps if you put it in another section the wasps will go there' Sarah
catnappurr
Original Author
18 years ago
Thank you very much Sarah! I'll buy one tomorrow. You must have hummingbirds by now!!!!! I hope so! :)
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Yup, gotta see a photo or specific details. Doesn't sound like bees but... Also, where are you exactly too would help narrow down once you provide good details and/or photo. If not, I could send photos of something to try and narrow it down. How many bees and what kind of feed was it? Did the feed have beetle larvae in it and what you were really looking at was Vespula wasps eating the larvae? A stretch but until I see/hear more, too hard to say. Gord
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Chances are it is yellow jackets that are around the feeder, if so, put a piece of meat a few yards away from the feeder and the yellow jackets will go for that too, and you will know that they are yellow jackets and not honey bees (which are not attracted to meat). Yellow jackets are more aggressive than honey bees and should not be messed with during daylite hours. Wait til dark and take the feeder down. If they are honey bees take the feeder down (if you are afraid of bees, again do this at night) and leave it inside for a few days. Honey bees will discover their nectar source is gone and move on. they have short memories and will forget it was ever there until a scout finds it again. I doubt it is honeybees because the feeder is not what they would consider a good source of nectar unless there is nothing else available. I have hives and feeders and the only tijme I have any problems with bees at the feeder is with yellow jackets, which sends me around the yard in search of their nest, so I can destroy it.
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Ellix .... thanks for your note. Lots of stuff the bees enjoy in my yard. I plant for wildlife and and have had a Texas Wildlife Conservation award for my plantings. We are rural here, so lots of wild flowers aready up and going, especially the bluebonnets and Indian paintbrushes, not to mention all the "lesser admired" natives. So why the bees are hogging my hummingbird feeders is still a mystery and as I wrote - never had this problem until this year. Like you, we always have those unwanted wasps and yellowjackets. We try to tear down their nests whenever we find them. The hummers are getting their share and don't seem to bee (pun intended) alarmed, but I wish they would go away from these sugar feeders. I send hubby out to get the empty feeders because I don't like them buzzing around my head. Still perplexed, Janice
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texasfern, If you are having a problem with actual honeybees and not yellow jackets or other wasps, they are looking for moisture and nectar that is becoming harder for them to find because of the hot and dry weather you all are having. A friend in Calif. solved her honeybee problem by providing a large 'nectar bowl' just for them away from the feeders. She used a chick feeder/waterer from a feed store but any large shallow container would work. just fill the shallow container with sugar water and place it away from your feeders. The honey bees will get the nectar and water they need and leave the feeders alone. I used this method last year when we had a hot dry season and it does work. You may have to relocate your hummer feeder also until the bees find 'their' feeder. Penny
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sarahbn
18 years ago
I have a bunch! at least four more like six I have had them since may 2nd. Sarah
catnappurr
Original Author
18 years ago
I'm really happy for you! Your pictures are awesome! :) Thank you for your response!
texaspuddyprint
18 years ago
Catnappurr,

I had big problems with bees a couple of years ago. There was a field near by with lots of bee boxes so they managed to find their way to my "hummie-port" feeder.

They literally took over every feeding station on it. They would get stuck in the flower feeding holes or manage to crawl in and not get out...it wasn't a very pretty picture!!!

To entice them away I made a stronger batch of nectar (and also got rid of all that red colored nectar). I then hung up pie pans with nectar from some trees and also put out garden stakes that had held small glass bowls in the far corners of my yard. The bees went for the sweeter stuff and stayed away from the feeders.

I didn't mean to kill off any bees but they would climb down into the bowls and drown when the nectar level got low...but even so, that didn't stop their compatriots from standing on their backs to continue feeding! Mind you, the bowls held about a cup of nectar and it would disappear within hours.

Here's an old photo where a hummie decided to investigate.

~ Cat
mimidi
18 years ago
Cute picture.

Today I was watching a war between 4 hummingibrds and one wasp. I have never seen a wasp so aggresive. I watched for a few minutes then picked up my fly swat went to the front porch and took care of that wasp. He was no more problem for my hummingibrds. No problems with bees.
catnappurr
Original Author
18 years ago
Thank you everyone for your advice! :) Cat that picture is......pardon the pun.......the catsmeow! :)

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